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And only 57 per cent of people aged 60 to 74 sent back an NHS postal stool sample test for bowel cancer.

People in “rural isolation” and pressure on transport are further challenges while funding pressures mean the council will need to “help communities to help themselves”.

Yet he said public health had been “welcomed with open arms” by the council after previously being overseen by the NHS for 40 years.

He said “strong” debate between councillors meant services that were “one size fits all” could now be tailored to different areas.

He said the ability of council committees to probe concerns are “powerful tools” and four-year instead of one-year NHS plans were “a revelation”.

And Dr McWilliam said specific contracts for particular services rather than block contracts for a range of NHS services meant more “accurate” services.

The April introduction of full-time nurses for all secondary schools and increasing sexual health treatment and diagnosis centres from two to eight were examples of this, he said.

Dr McWilliam said: “It has been a good year to come back into local Government for public health.”

For the full story and analysis of the report, see tomorrow’s Oxford Mail

JR ‘one of worst’ for dirt

Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital was yesterday named “among the worst” in England for infection control and cleanliness.

The rating was one of seven standards published on the NHS Choices website as part of a Government drive for greater transparency.

The rating is based on the number of C. difficile and MRSA infections – one of each in the last three months – and patients’ views.

The Department of Health said this indicates standards around “preventing infections and keeping the environment clean”.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, had yet to comment. Its Churchill and Nuffield Orthopaedic hospitals in Oxford and Banbury’s Horton met the standards or were at the expected level.